Do you ever get the impression that you don’t understand what you thought you understood?

I do, all the time.

Adam and Eve lived happily ever after, right? A bit of a problem with the snake and fruit thing, but then they got on with life, correct? And Noah. Adam was long gone by the time Noah came on the scene, right? You might be surprised.

Now Genesis is a really cool book. Surprising, but cool. It lacks nothing from being an interesting read. You may find that what you thought you knew, you really don’t.

How about Exodus though. Boring, right? Just the name alone makes you want to stiffle a big yawn.

Aaah, but just a moment. Exodus reveals some really fascinating stuff: murder, corruption, intrigue, massacres, plagues, epic battles, drama, comedy, etc. Did you know that Moses was a stuttering, pathetic coward? Or that his wife whipped out a knife, zipped off his son’s foreskin just so God wouldn’t kill him (Moses)? How about all those miracles he did to Pharoah — did you know that the court magicians reproduced them tit for tat right down to the end? How’d they do that? Here’s a good one — were you aware that God didn’t give Pharoah a chance and made him so stubborn, on purpose, that he ended up being killed by God? Why was Moses trying to deceive Pharoah about God’s real intentions with the Israelites?

And I’m only a few days into the reading of the book.

Don’t ever take the Word at face value. God has stamped himself all over it, in fascinating and shocking ways. He wants to get your attention; once he does he begins talking to you.

For those who might be interested, I’ll be leading a small group that starts in two weeks which will be following the One Year Bible’s approach to reading the entire Bible in one year. This is one of the Lifegroups that Lifepoint is hosting but it is open to anyone.

You’ll never look at the Bible in the same way again . . .